Mueller and Munich lead AP Global Football 10 poll

LONDON (AP) — Thomas Mueller and Bayern Munich led the player and team rankings in the Associated Press global football 10 on Tuesday.

Munich sealed qualification to the Champions League knockout stages last week with a 2-0 home win against Roma before routing Eintracht Frankfurt 4-0, Mueller scoring a hat trick.

"It is a fact Muller is developing into a world-class striker," Manos Staramopoulos of Dimocratia, in Greece, said. "This shows almost every week in the shirt of Bayern Munich."

Carlos Tevez and Juventus were runners-up. Italian league leader Juventus received three votes less than Munich after it thrashed Parma 7-0, Tevez netting twice.

Voter Aurelio Capaldi of Italian broadcaster RAI Sport said many observers are comparing Tevez to Diego Maradona, after his first goal saw him beat three Parma players with a ferocious run from inside his own half before slotting past goalkeeper Antonio Mirante.

"Tevez scored a double to help Juventus crush Parma 7-0, but the first goal was so amazing and thrilling and entertaining that lots of people described it as 'maradonesque' and not only because Diego Armando Maradona is from the same country," Capaldi said.

"The Argentinian looked unstoppable, and hungry, as if he still had to make a name for himself."

Cristiano Ronaldo was third in the player vote while Real Madrid dropped from first to third in the team poll, despite beating Liverpool 1-0 in the Champions League and Rayo Vallecano 5-1 in the Spanish league.

It was a quiet week by Ronaldo's prolific standards as he found the net only once in two matches, scoring Madrid's fifth against Vallecano.

But it was the tenth straight Spanish league game where his name was on the score-sheet and Tom Timmermann, of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the United States, felt Ronaldo's scoring exploits across the season so far deserved continued recognition.

"Ronaldo has 18 goals and five assists this season in La Liga and another three goals in the Champions League," Timmermann said. "Every week it seems there's a big goal and assist total next to his name."

Ronaldo's Madrid teammates Toni Kroos and Karim Benzema are sixth and ninth respectively. Kroos scored for Madrid against Vallecano while Benzema side-footed the winner against Liverpool in the Champions League, which secured its path into the knockout rounds.

Sergio Aguero is fourth in the player vote, scoring a double as Manchester City twice came from behind in a 2-2 draw at Queens Park Rangers. His first goal was impressive, controlling a long pass out of defense from Eliaquim Mangala before slaloming into space and finishing clinically.

Diego Costa polled fifth after scoring Chelsea's winner in the 2-1 victory over Liverpool. Jose Mourinho's team had its unbeaten start under threat after going 1-0 down at Anfield in nine minutes, but Costa's drilled finish gave Chelsea its ninth league win already this season. Chelsea were fourth in the team vote.

PSG polled fifth after ending Marseille's unbeaten start to the French league with a 2-0 home victory. Edinson Cavani capped an assured display by heading in the second goal in the 85th minute and entered the poll in eighth this week.

Barcelona duo Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez completed the top 10 players. Messi scored twice against Ajax to equal Gonzalo Raul's record of 71 Champions League goals.

Suarez is in the top 10 for the first time this season after sparking Barcelona's 2-1 comeback at Almeria on Saturday. He came on as a halftime substitute and created goals for Neymar and Jordi Alba. The victory ranked Luis Enrique's team sixth.

AP Global Football 10:

Players:

1. Thomas Mueller, 127 points.

2. Carlos Tevez, 101.

3. Cristiano Ronaldo, 73.

4. Sergio Aguero, 66.

5. Diego Costa, 62.

6. Toni Kroos, 51.

7. Lionel Messi, 40.

8. Edinson Cavani, 39.

9. Karim Benzema, 31.

10. Luis Suarez, 22.